Paradigm Shift
Chapter 17: Birth
He had been anticipating this moment for months, yet it still caught him off guard. After leaving abruptly in the middle of a morning meeting, he had driven like a madman, weaving in and out of traffic in a way that surprisingly did not result in a ticket.
He ran into the hospital, nearly knocking down Tai as he turned a corner.
"Why the hell are you so late?!" Tai demanded loudly, the remnants of a plastic water bottle in his clutches. "I rang you more times than I've ever rang literally anyone."
"Where are they?" Matt asked breathlessly, looking over Tai's shoulder as if expecting Kari to be standing there instead of in a room somewhere to give birth.
"She isn't due until next week," Tai said with a shaken voice, ignoring him completely. "You know she always does this. Whenever she gets sick, she gets really sick. Why can't she be like me? I never get sick. Damn it!" He crunched the water bottle underneath his fist, then used his free hand to twist half of it.
"You need to calm down. It's just a week."
The back of Tai's fist hit his shoulder roughly. "Easy for you to say! My sister's the one doing all the work! Your brother just has to stand there!"
He felt an urge of protection for his brother. "Hey, he's definitely more stressed out than you are, and obviously I care about Kari too. You're just not helping anyone by freaking out!"
A nurse passed by, shushing them quiet before lecturing them for causing a scene. He could see from Tai's dark expression that he was thinking murderous thoughts.
"Doesn't she know my sister's in labour?!" Tai hissed hatefully as she carried on. "I'll cause a fucking scene if I fucking want."
"You're going to get yourself kicked out of the hospital."
"I'd love to see them try."
"You're psychotic."
Tai stopped talking to him after that comment. They waited in silence, Tai typing away furiously on his phone while Matt stared out the window.
They didn't move until TK sauntered out of what he assumed was Kari's room, looking shaken and pale.
"Are you all right?" Matt asked him, standing up.
"I don't feel well," came his younger brother's reply. Matt forcefully sat him down in his chair and saw that he was trembling.
"You look like a ghost."
Tai marched over to them, looking aggravated. "Why are you here when you should be inside with Kari?"
"She kicked me out because she wanted to be with your mum," TK stated stonily, evidently not noticing that Tai was talking to him like he was mentally challenged. "I feel like all of those classes we attended and articles we read didn't mentally prepare me for this."
Tai looked at TK with disgust.
"That's it, I'm going in," Tai declared, stomping up to the door TK had come out of and walking in without knocking.
"Stop looking like that!" Matt hissed at his younger brother as soon as Tai was gone. "You have to try to look like you have control over yourself. You look like you're about to throw up."
"I know, I know," TK insisted, a tinge of irritation in his own voice. "Just give me a second, all right?"
Matt shut up hearing his brother's tone. It took a lot to get TK to lose his patience, but once he did he liked to leave things alone.
"I want it to be over," TK muttered again, pressing his forehead against his hands. "It's only the beginning, and she already looks like she's in so much pain. I can't do this."
"What's wrong with you? You need to get a hold of yourself. If you're like this, just imagine how she feels."
TK glared at him, the intensity of which caught Matt off guard. "Just wait until it happens to you. You know I won't be bossing you around when you start freaking out."
Matt frowned, displeased. "Don't look at me like that."
TK closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he looked normal. "I know. I'm sorry. I just need a minute, then I'll go back in."
"Wait until Tai comes out so you don't have to deal with him. He's being annoying."
Fifteen minutes later, Tai still hadn't returned, so Matt got up to check for himself. He knocked softly on the door and was greeted by Tai when it opened.
"Can I come in?" Matt muttered.
Tai stepped out of the way wordlessly, and Kari stretched her neck to see who it was. He saw from her face that she originally mistook him for her husband.
"Hi Matt," she greeted pleasantly anyway.
Based on TK's current state, he expected Kari to be in much worse condition. She looked tired and her hair a little astray, but aside from that she didn't look to be in particular pain.
"Where's TK?" she asked him immediately after.
"Ah, he's getting something to eat." Matt stood against the wall, feeling too much like an outsider in a room with Tai, Kari, and their mother. He wished he could be his brother just then, as he was the one who everyone in the room wanted.
"That poor boy," Kari's mother said, reaching to her daughter to fix her hair. "I've never seen him so nervous. He always looks so calm."
"He's freaking the hell out," Tai glowered, earning a worried glance from Kari.
Their mother brushed aside her son's comment. "He's about to be a father. It's perfectly normal. I thought your father was going to walk out on me when you were being born. You know, Tai, for being so impatient with everything else in your life, you had no trouble keeping me waiting for nearly a full twenty-four hours."
Tai frowned and turned his attention back to his sister. "Kar, you're huge. Can't this baby come out already?"
He started to poke Kari's belly repeatedly until his mother swatted it away. She was poised to tell him off for being a bother when there was a knock on the door, and TK slid in. Four pairs of eyes turned to watch him, though he made no indication that he noticed them peering over him.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, obviously directed to Kari.
"Hi," she said to him quietly.
He walked over to his wife, and for the first time in a long time, Matt saw his brother kiss her. This was at the risk of his life, as Tai was right beside him, but even when the brothers had lived together, he had found them to be such a private couple.
TK lifted up a small plastic bag, the brand of a convenience store plastered on the front. "I brought you snacks."
Kari shook her head. "I'm not hungry."
"But you should eat now, when it's not that bad," TK countered.
"But I'm not hungry."
He opened a carton of yoghurt and gave it to her anyway. "It's small. Eat it for me, okay?"
"She said she isn't hungry," Tai barked.
"Tai," his mother warned. She turned to Kari. "Honey, TK's right. Just eat something small for now. It'll help you later."
Kari nodded and obediently began to eat. TK stared at her the entire time.
"Are you all right now?" he asked quietly, though the room was so enclosed that everyone could hear. Kari nodded. He sat down on the floor beside her, even though Tai had gotten up to give up his chair. "Tell me if it hurts again, okay?"
She nodded again, taking a hold of his hand that was on top of the hospital mattress. "I'm okay. Don't worry. We're prepared for this, remember?"
Matt saw his brother's hand squeeze hers so hard that his knuckles turned white, though it was only for a second. He let go again, still trembling. "Eat."
He felt weird. He felt he was invading their privacy somehow. TK probably wanted to be alone with her but couldn't.
"Why don't the three of us get some lunch ourselves?" Tai's mother asked, reading his mind. She stood up and plucked Tai and Matt up with each arm.
"But—"
Dragged out of the room by Tai's mother, the three of them went to have a long lunch in which nobody really spoke. When they returned, he heard the first of a horrible groan that continued for hours.
He had to commend Kari for never screaming and TK for making it through. Even Tai looked sick at times, stepping out for nearly an hour when he couldn't take it anymore. Matt assumed it was to see Sora, for when he came back, Tai informed him that Mimi was looking for him.
It was then that it occurred to him that his mobile was back in his office where he had left it that morning. He borrowed Tai's phone to shoot Mimi a quick text message to let her know, though he gave it back to Tai so quickly that he never saw whether Mimi responded and forgot to remember to check.
Tai's father and his own parents showed up soon after, his mother in tears as she grasped her younger son.
"My boys!" she had cried to them both before promptly focusing all her attention on TK. In her defence, she had more reason to concentrate on him, and she did prove to be a more effective antidote to TK's nerves than he had.
They soon gave the parents-to-be alone time once more, and the two families sat in a circle around the waiting room. Seeing both of their families come together was a sight he hadn't seen since the wedding. He hadn't seen his parents since before the New Year, and that was months ago.
"TK told me you're seeing someone?" his mother brought up when they were all ready to not talk about what was currently happening in the room behind them anymore.
He hated his brother sometimes. Instantly, everyone's attention was on him, including Tai's mother, who positively beamed. Beside her, a smirk crept up on Tai's smug face.
"I am, but it's nothing serious," Matt answered dismissively.
"Seems pretty serious," Tai cut in, which made Matt want to punch his throat.
"Oh, I'm so happy for you!" Mrs Kamiya cooed before turning to her own son disapprovingly. "Now if only you'd do us all a favour and settle down."
"Tai has a girlfriend," Matt offered in revenge. "Hasn't it been half a year now? They're very serious."
Instantly, Tai's face transformed, the smirk dissipating and replaced by wide-eyed disbelief. The look of betrayal on his mate's face actually made him feel bad, not realising he had just opened a can of worms.
Indeed, Mrs Kamiya jumped on Matt's words immediately, and Tai clumsily avoided direct answers until he fled to the safety of Kari's room, she not so far behind.
"How sweet," his own mother commented to Mr Kamiya. "I've never seen Tai look quite so shy before."
Mr Kamiya raised an eyebrow to Matt. "He's actually seeing someone?"
Matt gave a brief nod, then, not really wanting to talk about Tai's relationship with their parents, excused himself to go outside. It was to smoke, but it was only after he had lit the cigarette that he heard a shrill voice pierce through the cold air.
"Matt Ishida, you put that out this instant!"
He turned his head to see his mother glaring at him, then turned back around to take in a drag. He felt her grab his arm with one hand and snatch the cigarette with the other.
"How dare you! You know better than that!"
His mother never yelled. It must have been the first time in twenty years that she had raised her voice at him.
"Calm down, Mum."
"Don't you dare talk to me that way," she ordered, looking angrier than he had ever seen her. "This is supposed to be an exciting day, and now all I can think about is how my son is a smoker!"
"Just think about TK."
"I never have to worry about TK!"
"I'm an adult."
"And I'm your parent."
"Dad knows."
"I don't care if your father knows!"
She started to pat him down, looking for the rest of the pack and finding it in his back pocket. She put them in her bag, saying she would bin them for him later.
He looked at her hatefully. She had no right to act like his mother when it was convenient for her, and he was about to tell her off for doing so when a look on her face so strikingly similar to his own stopped him.
"I'm trying to quit," he told her instead.
She looked at him sadly. "How long have you been smoking?"
He shrugged dismissively, not wanting to reveal the truth.
"How long, Matt?" she asked authoritatively.
"I only just started again."
"'Again'?!"
"A few months maybe," he lied.
"It'll age you. You've always had the most beautiful face, Matt, ever since you were young. You're going to ruin it with some useless addiction."
He nodded for her sake and repeated himself, trying to sound more convincing. "I'm trying to quit."
She was holding his face in her hands. "You've lost so much weight."
"Not much," he refuted. Not wanting to be alone with her anymore, he changed the subject. "Let's go check on your favourite son."
She frowned. "I do not have a favourite son. You know that."
"The one with your surname then," he reworded.
She seemed dissatisfied but let it pass, following him indoors. She burst into tears upon seeing TK outside the room again, this time to refill a pitcher of water. TK, despite his own situation, stopped to calm her.
She had probably already forgotten all about finding out his habit.
He sauntered over to his father, who was off against a wall, also looking at his younger son as he comforted his former wife.
It was a boy.
His eyes are blue, which the doctor said might change. The tiny tuft of hair was a minky brown, which probably wouldn't.
"He looks like a Kamiya," Tai declared proudly, looking at the baby in Kari's arms.
More like an alien, Matt thought.
Kari allowed each family member to hold the baby, and at Matt's turn, he was astonished by just how ugly newborn babies were. He wouldn't dare say that to his parents.
Both of their mothers cried endless tears, their grasping of their son and daughter the only way that TK would separate himself from his wife and child. Matt had always found TK attached to Kari, but with a baby in tow TK refused to look at anyone else, switching his focus from mother to baby every so often.
"I'm going to be the favourite uncle," Tai added, scooping down to pick up the baby rather confidently and, in Matt's opinion, carelessly.
"Tai," his mother warned, but Matt didn't mind. He probably would be.
Tai suddenly looked alert, then set the baby back in Kari's arms. "One second. I have to make a quick call."
"Sora?" Kari asked, looking lovingly at her newborn.
He frowned at her, even though she wasn't looking. "No, not her. Someone else. I'll be right back."
The moment he left the room, Tai's mother demanded more details about "this Sora girl" from both Matt and Kari.
He let Kari do the explaining and suddenly remembered that he too should tell Mimi the news.
Never having gone back for his mobile, he reached over to the table where TK's was. Going off memory, he found the numbers he automatically typed actually revealed Megumi's name on TK's screen. Horrified, he deleted everything and tried to remember his current girlfriend's number.
It took a few seconds of drawing a blank for him to realise that had never memorised it.
He scrolled through TK's numbers list but couldn't find Mimi's name. They must not have exchanged contact information when they had met each other.
He decided to wait until Tai came back to use his and used the time to instead delete Megumi's number off TK's phone. It was an invasion of privacy, but he was his brother, and TK no longer had any use for it.
It saddened him to know that he still thought of her first, but while he was stuck on that horrible notion, it suddenly dawned on him that she had been gone for so long that she didn't even know Kari was pregnant in the first place.
The revelation was eye opening.
He suddenly felt a colossal detachment from her, a large part of whatever fondness remained breaking off entirely like an iceberg on the edge of a melting glacier.
The past nine months were the most tumultuous of his life, but more than his new relationship, perhaps even more than her leaving him, this baby was the single biggest change that happened this year, and she had been there for none of it.
He saw the ugly alien baby squirming in Kari's arms. He reached down to touch his chubby leg, smiling a little at how soft he was to the touch.
"I like it when you smile," Kari said to him. "It comes out of nowhere, so I always know you mean it."
His smile widened. He thought that every impactful memory of his had been shared with her, but even without Megumi, this moment was incredible.
Kari let him hold the baby again. To his amusement, he felt a competitive desire to be the favourite uncle. He wondered how he'd be able to pull something like that off when he'd be competing against the ever-so-adored Tai Kamiya.
Mimi would know.
He suddenly wanted to talk to her more than anything else, but it would be another twenty minutes before Tai would come back into the room.
"Who were you talking to?" his mother asked immediately, while Matt handed the sleeping baby back to Kari.
"Work," Tai answered automatically. His arm shot in the air as his mother tried to take his mobile from his hand. "Mum, you're being mad."
"Just show me a picture of her—"
"I don't have a picture of her—"
"How do you not have a picture of her?! Don't you love her?!"
"Mum!" Tai pleaded desperately, still trying to keep his mother from snatching his phone. "I already said I'll bring her around, so please stop harassing me—"
"If you would call to tell me things once in a while, I wouldn't have to harass you," she huffed. Giving up, she turned her attention back to her daughter.
Tai looked relieved, then looked over at Matt's outstretched hand. "What do you want?"
"Can I borrow your phone?"
Tai looked puzzled but gave it to him, and Matt stepped outside to call Mimi. He read her number again and again in his head as he walked to a private corner, trying to memorise it.
Another thought came over him as he situated himself and was ready to call her. He wasn't really the nosy type, but for the sake of curious fact checking, he looked at Tai's call history to see if he had really been talking to work. It wouldn't be unlike him.
Last call: Sora Takenouchi. Duration: 23 minutes and 58 seconds.
The lying bastard.
Curiosity fulfilled, he dialled Mimi's number.
"Matt?! This better be Matt and not you, Tai! I told you to tell him to call me, but you forgot, didn't you? Or you're doing this just to spite me?! Well?!"
"It's me," he answered.
"Matty! Why did you forget your phone?!" Mimi wailed.
"I was in a bit of a rush," he said, laughing a little at her instant change in tone. "Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Were you trying to reach me?"
"Only all day!"
"Sorry," he said again.
"Well?!" she demanded. "Tai told me TK was freaking out! Is he okay? Is she okay? Is there a baby yet?!"
He smiled at her excitement. "It's a boy."
As anticipated, she shrieked with joy. She started to speak at a million words per minute of which he couldn't retain all, but to his surprise he suddenly heard her choke up midsentence.
"Sorry, I cry when I get excited," she explained, clearing her throat when her voice cracked.
He didn't understand. "You've never even met Kari."
"I know, but when I talked to your brother the other day, he kept talking about how nervous he was about everything, then Tai was going off about how TK was succumbing under the stress, but he made it! I'm so happy for your family, Matt! Are your parents there too?"
"Yes."
"Please send them all my love. I'm so happy for you all! I can't contain it! Oh, where can I drop off my gifts?"
"You bought them gifts?"
"Matt, I bought them all the gifts. I'm going to give Kari so many presents the instant I meet her. I might come off a little overwhelming, but you know how I get."
He chuckled. "Well, I'll let you know when Kari's up for having overwhelming visitors. I think she needs time to recover from today."
She squealed loudly. "Can you believe it though? You're an uncle now!"
"I guess I am."
"Uncle Matt." She giggled. "It makes you sound middle-aged, like I'm dating a much older man. How exciting!"
"Sorry for not being a much older man," he said dryly. "I don't know how I feel about you finding that exciting."
"Come on, you're telling me you've never wanted to date an older woman, just to see what it'd be like?"
"No."
"Well, that's because you're no fun! I bet an older woman can teach you a lot of things I wouldn't be able to."
"Are you trying to tell me we should see other people?"
She laughed. "No way! We're just speaking hypothetically here. Anyway, enough talk about nothing. I'm sure you want to get back to your family. Thanks for calling me, even if it took all day. I'll let you go now."
"Not yet," he declined hurriedly. The anonymity of the phone made him braver. He didn't have to say it directly to her face. "Before you hang up, I want to thank you for everything."
She sounded confused as she asked, "What did I do?"
He paused. "You make me happy, Mimi."
"You're thanking me for being happy?"
"Yes."
She laughed, the sound as musical as he first recalled. "Matt, I think your happiness is directed more towards your nephew, don't you think?"
"I'm happy about him too, but no. I'm happy for the first time in a long time because of you."
"Hey!" she cried out. "We've been dating for three months! How can you tell me that you just now became happy?"
He let out a low laugh. "I guess it just took me three months to figure it out. You know my situation."
She didn't say anything.
"Mimi?" he called out, looking at the phone to see if she had hung up.
"I'm here."
He took back what he had thought earlier. He wished he was talking directly in front of her instead of through a receiver. He needed to see her face. Had he offended her? Just as he was preparing to apologise for his blunder, she spoke again.
"I'm glad you're happy, Matt. I'm really happy too, for both you and me."
17 February 2016
Thank you so much for the reviews! This was my first time making everything in one person's POV, this time being Matt's.